I'm having trouble with the remote desktop server that comes with Ubuntu.

I've changed to settings to "allow other users to view" and "allow other users to control" and I set "require users to enter this password: **". And I've turned off the confirmation for each access.

When I try to connect from another machine (namely a Windows machine) I get "This computer can't connect to the remote computer".

I've set this up before on a different Ubuntu box with the same settings without trouble.

The remote desktop computer has other ports open, like SSH and FTP that work fine. And I did not have to configure the firewall for those applications. Is there something else I might be missing? Something I should try and determine the issue?

1 Answer
1

Yes, this is an understandable confusion. I reported it as a bug and it's been fixed in 11.10. "Remote Desktop" in Ubuntu is not the same thing as in Windows. It's intended to share your running desktop with someone else. In 11.10, it's been renamed to "Desktop Sharing" to better reflect that. It also uses another protocol, VNC, so if you want to connect to your shared desktop from Windows, you'll need to install a VNC viewer. There are many of them to choose from.

It is also possible to connect to Ubuntu using the Windows built-in client. You'll need to install xrdp, but the last time I tried, it was not easy.

This was the issue. And so they really change the remote desktop from protocol moving 11.04 to 11.10? The windows remote desktop client still works for my other box, but I'm using Tight VNC and it's working correctly. Thanks!
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JesseAug 7 '11 at 16:55